It’s been over half a year since Freenom was sued by Meta over cybersquatting. Freenom quickly put a stop to all new domain registrations, claiming there are technical difficulties. Since then, there have been no new announcements from Freenom, leaving many users confused. During this time, Freenom lost its management rights for the .GA domain, the ccTLD for the country of Gabon. On June 3rd, Gabonese authorities took back control over the domain extension.
Gabon terminates contract with Freenom
Gabonese authorities decided to ditch Freenom, claiming that Freenom has failed to “provide the Internet community with a satisfactory service.” Gabon has the third largest economy in Central Africa, and need “reliable digital tools to support the online presence of businesses, associations, institutions and private individuals.”
While this decision may seem unfair to some owners of the domain, it is important to note that .GA was always the domain for Gabon, similarly to how .CA is the domain for Canada and how .UK is the domain of the United Kingdom. When local business owners in Gabon suddenly lose access to their domain, that could hurt their businesses and profit.
.GA domains are available to register again—but it comes at a price
Thankfully, .GA domains are now available for registration again! You can now purchase a .GA domain at Gandi.net for… $33 CAD a year. That’s a sharp increase from $0.00. However, this means there will be much fewer fraudulent domains.
This price allows businesses in Gabon to keep their domains, but there isn’t much of a point in purchasing one otherwise. Unless you are located in Gabon, we wouldn’t recommend re-registering a .GA domain. Other domains like .COM and .CA can be found for much cheaper at NameSilo.
What will happen with my .GA domain
The TLD will be operated and managed to the highest standards of service quality and security, and will play an integral role in the development of the Internet in Gabon
If you were serious about your .GA domain, then don’t worry. ANINF, the National Agency of Digital Infrastructure and Frequencies in Gabon, will be the new manager of the domain extension. They state that “The TLD will be operated and managed to the highest standards of service quality and security, and will play an integral role in the development of the Internet in Gabon.”
There were about 7 million .GA domains registered, most of which were used for nefarious purposes. Because of this, ANINF had deleted millions of .GA domains. The good news is, as mentioned previously, they can be re-registered. The high price of .GA combats the abusers and works toward increasing the reputation of a previously sketchy and dangerous domain.
Now that you’re buying the domain, you have full ownership over it. With Freenom, you never actually “owned” anything. Any free domain registered was property of Freenom, and they could revoke the domain at any time (which they did, to serve malware ads and profit.)
The current state of Freenom
It’s safe to say that Freenom is likely gone for good, or at least for a very long time. There have been no new public announcements, and the domain search is no longer functional. While free domains can still be renewed, many users report technical issues and have trouble accessing the website.
If you just want a way to keep your website online, Gilect offers free hosting that comes with a free subdomain. If you’re looking for more, now is a good time to migrate to an alternative to Freenom. We recommend redirecting your existing Freenom domain to your new domain, to let users know your address has changed. Otherwise, Freenom in its current state is severely unreliable and bound to close down any moment.